Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to analog and digital clocks. More specifically, the present invention relates to analog or digital countdown clocks or clock-like devices that have various mechanics to help individuals' time management skills.
Many people have difficulty planning their schedules on a daily basis. This is partly caused by the fact that the current mechanical standard 12-hour clock is archaic and devalues accountability and ownership of time. The 12-hour clock has conditioned people to think of time in terms of a relatively small number of discrete intervals. This is not conducive to today's society, which is fast-paced and requires more and more of individuals on a daily basis. People are always postponing or failing to complete tasks because they believe that there is not enough time left to complete those tasks, since time is traditionally organized in such large intervals. When an individual only has one hour left to complete a task, they often feel as though that is only enough time to complete that one task, regardless of how long it actually takes, because they only have one unit of time to perform it in. In reality, that individual has sixty units of time, i.e. minutes, and an individual could squeeze value out of all sixty of those minutes if their brain was programmed to think that way.
Current technologies attempt to solve these problems by providing individuals with visual cues or reminders for when certain tasks need to be completed in order to get people to more efficiently use their time. However, these visual cue systems require the user to pre-plan their entire day and they are not flexible enough to easily adjust when unanticipated tasks need to be addressed or when a task takes an unanticipated length of time. It is a more efficient and complete solution to simply re-wire the way people think about time. Existing devices merely break up the day into long, discrete intervals, which the traditional clock already does by 1-hour intervals. These devices break the up the day by different intervals, but in intervals that are still too large for the given task of personal time keeping and task management. While this may be useful if an individual's day consists solely of addressing a linear list of tasks, most individuals' schedules are relatively unknown at the beginning of the day and require them to be flexible enough to address a wide range of potential tasks and issues. Furthermore, the devices in the art do not address the fundamental problem of people setting their schedules based on an archaic and outdated time model.
The present invention takes a holistic approach to improving the way users view time by depicting the day as a countdown for the number of minutes left, rather than as the traditional 12-hour clock. This setup encourages individuals to view time in a more organic fashion, rather than as a relatively small number of discrete units, because the entire day is laid out before an individual as 1,440 units instead of 24 units. When the day is only broken into 24 time units, individuals often feel that they do not have time to complete a given task or do not use all of their time efficiently, because they do not adequately account for the fractional values of the hours left and do not view time in a seamless, organic fashion. Furthermore, the fact that the present improved clock counts down from a set value, rather than systematically aggregating time, gives individuals a sense of urgency because they can recognize that time is valuable as it is constantly being lost.
Description of the Prior Art
Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to aids for use in time management. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications. These devices generally relate to clocks having mechanisms to assist users in visualizing when certain tasks need to be completed and how long it takes to complete said tasks. The following is a list of devices deemed most relevant to the present disclosure, which are herein described for the purposes of highlighting and differentiating the unique aspects of the present invention, and further highlighting the drawbacks existing in the prior art.
One such device is U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,870 to Cullom, which discloses a visual reminder system to be used in conjunction with a standard analog clock. The visual reminder system comprises a plurality of articles representing various tasks that may be removably attached to support means on the clock. Users may indicate by what time certain tasks need to be completed by placing an appropriate article on the clock face, aligned with the associated hour or minute indicator. While this device provides a means for visualizing by when certain tasks need to be completed, it still fails to provide users with an overall understanding of the value of time. The present invention provides users with an overall understanding of exactly how much time is left in the day, rather than the time remaining until an event occurs, so that their entire day can be planned efficiently instead of just that single event.
Another such device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,961 to Bruskewitz, which discloses a timer for teaching children the concept of time by providing programmable tasks of a set duration. The child is able to graphically visualize the passage of time for the activity being timed. Bruskewitz only assists users in visualizing the time left for a single task. The present invention, on the other hand, provides a total visualization for the entire day in terms of the number of remaining minutes so individuals can intelligently plan all of their tasks, rather than just a single task.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,216 to Haughey and U.S. Pat. No. 7,414,923 to Kadokura disclose event calendars to assist individuals who have difficulty keeping track of time for tasks, such as children. For people that cannot read a clock, such as small children, a clock is an ineffective means to help them manage their schedule, so Haughey and Kadokura provide a plurality of removable, graphical event markers that may be freely rearranged and an indicator that visually represents the passage of time for that particular event. Haughey and Kadokura break an individual's day into a series of discrete events, whereas the present invention seeks to provide a user with a total picture of the time remaining in the day. Haughey and Kadokura seek to help individuals who have difficulty completing tasks on time, whereas the present invention seeks to help individuals maximize the number of tasks that they can complete in a day.
Another such device is U.S. Pat. No. 8,355,296 to Endrasik, which discloses an analog clock with a plurality of activity displays that inform the user what activity is to be performed during which time period. Like Bruskewitz, Haughey, and Kadokura, Endrasik is primarily intended to be used by children because they have difficulty keeping track of time. The present invention is not intended to be used primarily by children, but is instead useful to the population as a whole. The present improved clock breaks down the entire day into minutes, rather than hours, to give individuals a more complete concept of the time remaining in the day. Whereas a standard clock is broken down into 24 rather long time intervals, the present invention reprograms users' brains so that they do not feel limited by the relatively few number of time intervals, but instead have a complete picture of all the time that the day entails.
Finally, U.S. Published Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0160968 to Shachrur discloses an analog clock-like device that has graphical activity markers in place of the traditional hour numerals on the clock face. Like the previously discussed inventions, Shachrur is intended to help individuals manage their time by giving them graphical representations of what they should be doing at any given moment. Shachrur requires an individual to pre-plan their entire day prior to beginning their tasks, because the graphical representations of the tasks must be placed ahead of time and the individual needs to allocate the necessary amount of time between the various tasks. The present invention does not utilize graphical representations of tasks and instead takes a more holistic approach to time management by encouraging users to see all of the time available in the day and recognizing the substantial amount of available time, rather than dividing the day into a series of discrete events or large time intervals. People may otherwise not spend their time wisely and may postpone work assignments, schoolwork, or other tasks because they perceive that there is not enough time in the day.
The present invention provides an analog or digital clock with the traditional time indicators replaced by a countdown for the total number of minutes remaining in the day. Such a configuration encourages individuals to exert ownership over their time rather than being conditioned to think of time in a relatively small number of hours. The present invention is submitted as being substantially divergent in design elements from the prior art and as introducing a new means of time management. It is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing analog clock or time management devices. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.